Worth an asana or do we give it a miss?

http://www.secretyogaclub.co.uk/

Cover me bad

Covering a yoga class is a tricky business but the more I learn, the greater compassion I have for those who for one reason or another, find themselves in somebody else's shoes at a given time. On Friday night, I went to a cover class, which in my weekly yogi attendance, happens a great deal and I decided, after much reflection, that I don't mind a bit and that I have utmost respect for a teacher who knows full well that she is walking in somebody else's tadasana shadow and still delivers a perfectly scripted and authentic class in her own style and with her own unique philosophy. I admired this teacher for the humility with which she did this and the self-assured approach which inspired confidence in all her students. I raise my cup of Christmas chai to all cover teachers able to do the same!

There is no app for happiness ...

Max Strom recently wrote a book about our relationship with technology and how it is damaging our own internal devices as we become hooked on the meaningless, virtual and pretty fruitless worlds online. Scientists are currently inventing robots which can make eye contact and express different emotions but we, on the other hand, have given up on this somewhat demode way of communicating and are instead relying on the tips of our overactive fingers as we text more meaningless and more fruitless words to someone on the other end.
Yesterday, I bumped into someone who was charging at me full speed with his phone in his right hand and his head stooped low, effectively blind to the world around him. His lack of awareness extended so far that he didn't even apologise. Deep communication is at the heart of true yoga, so where is it?

I wonder where the truth lies.

 I am a simple person.

No, I am actually not, but I aspire to be one. And yoga has helped me so much in this respect.

But then, why is this getting to be such a complicated affair? Is the business of yoga betraying its principles and will it lead to its decline in popularity?
We are overwhelmed: too many labels, too many layers, too much unnecessary information, too much vritti.
Everyday I seem to discover a new school- or someone claiming they have come up with a new, unique style. Everyday it is in the news, because yoga ‘sells’, like celebrities - and it is not uncommon to find them combined.
Then, why is it so hard to find a plain & simple, traditional yoga class in London?

I want to practice yoga, I want to study this ancient practice - an art or a science I am still not sure, but definitely so fascinating and modern. But if  I try to make sense of ‘what’s on the high street’ I only get supremely confused….

 

YOGA IS... a transformational journey

http://www.yogais.com/

A documentary which seeks to understand what yoga really is for us now.

Finding your anchor

Suzanne Bryant, an ISHTA trained teacher in New York, talks here about her personal struggles and how she overcame them with yoga and meditation.

Shutting a spiritual hospital or a yoga palace?

Celebrities like Paul McCartney, Gwyneth Paltrow and Sadie Frost have all campaigned for Triyoga, the beloved Primrose Hill posse's Go To for yoga and treatments, to stay well and truly open. Some claim that it would be like shutting a hospital and have outlined the need to have somewhere open not only for physical but also emotional wellbeing. Our only concern is that hospitals are free on the NHS and Triyoga is perhaps the most pricey place to do yoga in London, so perhaps a private hospital for those with through- the- roof insurance would be more accurate? It is true that they run community classes but they tend to be on when a lot of those who can't afford their classes are at work earning their bread and butter.
We all agree that we need more Go To centres in London and yet what kind of centre are we aiming to endorse and are we sectioning off these places to the elite and the famous just because we live in one of the most expensive cities in the world?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/10416816/McCartney-fights-to-save-Primrose-Hill-yoga-centre.html

Life gets Life

Life in Shoreditch has shut down and there are rumours floating around that the owners have scammed people of their cash for their own benefit. They are said to have been trying to finance a restaurant with clients' membership money and people are still trying to get their money back, while the owners look for more investors.
We went onto their facebook page to find out more and the comments posted show a rather tainted story, with some deeply regretting the closure and others convinced that this is their bad karma. Either way, this scandal is one of many in London and indicates the fragmented state of the yoga world at large. Where are the yogic principles that we hold so dear? Is London distorting their origin in an attempt to make a buck?

Read more comments here:

https://www.facebook.com/lifeshoreditch

Two yoginis, Anna and Isa, who both live in London, are curious to find out more about London yoga. What is it exactly? Where is it? What novelties does it have to offer? Is it evolving or just simply descending into another urban facsimile of 'spirituality'. The following article by Marian Caplan outlines some of the 'spiritually transmitted diseases' which are out there and both of us are keen to consider whether this is all happening right under our noses, regardless of the asana.
If confused motivations, faux spirituality and fast- food yoga are all commonplace, where does that leave us?  Our aim is to cover as many genres, studios, teachers and new ideas as we can in the time we have and find the truth about London.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mariana-caplan-phd/spiritual-living-10-spiri_b_609248.html